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9.24.2011

Woah, Patio.

Around 9pm last night we got a call from the contractor who was supposed to begin work on our patio on Monday. Apparently the forecast for Monday called for rain and he wanted to know if he could start work today, Saturday. S and I looked at each other and said, "sure, why not?"

So this morning S set his alarm for 6 and was outside digging up the existing plantings around the fence in the dark. The guys were here just before 8 and within twenty minutes they'd removed all the grass and were starting to dig down to create an area level with the front, left corner of the new patio.

After several hours and a half dozen trips to dump the extra dirt at some construction site where they'll use it as fill, we had a level area with a nearly two foot drop at the back corner - a far cry from the 8-10 inches we'd initially anticipated.

Needless to say, digging down two feet took much more time than just a foot. We'll be giving these guys a generous tip. Installing a retaining wall and the patio stones shouldn't take much more than one more day, so it looks like we'll be enjoying drinks, or at least iced tea, on the patio in no time!